This invention was the subject matter of DDP Registration No. 172470 which was filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on June 25, 1987.
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. No's: 4,452,581; D 281,214; D 256,761; and, D 274,495 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse stackable arrangements for cookware.
While these prior art arrangements are more than adequate for their intended purpose and function, they are also deficient in a number of areas particularly with reference to their adaptability for use in a microwave oven.
Specifically these prior art constructions are limited to individual cooking receptacles that are dimensioned, designed and configured to nest upon one another in a stacked relationship. In addition, these arrangements do not provide a series of spaced planar support surfaces which will function either as a cooking surface per se, or as a support for independent cooking receptacles of either the covered or uncovered variety.
Furthermore, all of the aforementioned stackable arrangements while admittedly convenient are bulky and occupy a large amount of useful space that cannot be otherwise utilized while the stackable arrangement is in storage.
As any frequent user of microwave ovens can attest, most of the cooking that is performed in a microwave oven involves a single food receptacle that occupies a small fraction of the capacity of the oven cavity. This particular phenomena exists primarily due to the fact that, to date no one has developed a stackable support and/or receptacle arrangement, that will permit a plurality of like or dissimilar foodstuffs to be supported at different levels within the oven to thereby utilize the full capacity thereof during the cooking process.